The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, has said that "the full dimensions of the clerical abuse scandals, sadly, may yet still have to appear".
Addressing the a.g.m. of the National Priests' Conference of Ireland at the Dromantine centre near Newry, Co Down, last night he said: "We have to honestly and completely face what has happened."
He continued: "There is no use covering over historical cases, no matter how painful that may be for us. In the meantime, we have to ensure that the best possible child protection services are in place. Good child-protection measures are also priest-protection measures."
He said: "Any discussion today within the church about dealing with child abuse and child protection has to recognise the sincere anxiety among many that the church is still involved in a power game, that it might still be concerned primarily about the corporate interest of the church, of a diocese or of a religious congregation.
"The bishop or the religious superior must consciously take those decisions for which he or she bears fundamental responsibility. That does not mean that the bishop or superior should ignore expert advice. Anything but!
"I value the advice that I receive from my Child Protection Service. It prevents me from deluding myself or letting personal emotion prevent me from taking hard decisions.
"We need independent, expert advice, documented in a transparent way. For example, in addition to the advice of my Child Protection Service, I have asked a further independent expert to review the decisions taken and to make recommendations where inadequacies may have been found.
"Without transparency, the suspicion will remain that somehow church authorities are looking for another way to escape legitimate accountability to the church community or to the wider community.
"People's confidence in the church has been shaken. We are talking about shaken confidence concerning the church's ability to work with children. We have to win that confidence back. That will require a different attitude which enables people to see that we are being totally open."
He felt it "sobering to remember also that abuse of power is at the heart of the child sexual abuse scandals. Sexual abuse is an abuse of power over another person. It is compounded when there is an enormous difference in power, as when the abuser is a priest and the abused is a child.
"When one reads the individual stories of abuse or listens to victims, one cannot but be struck by the way in which victims are threatened not to inform anyone, and the motives are always presented in terms of the power or the status of the priest abuser."
He continued: "Let it be said honestly that, for many people, the encounter with authoritarianism in the church has not just been with the bishop or the institution, but also with the priest.
"Priests can be extremely authoritarian, arrogant and self-minded. Indeed a certain type of authoritarian, 'hard man' image of the priest was popular in clerical culture and was presented as a model for young priests," he said.
"The priest who appears to seek power for himself over other people's lives, rather than opening them to the experience of the healing power of Jesus, will find very little echo in the hearts of young people in search of faith.
"As I have already noted, when I was installed in the Pro-Cathedral in Dublin as coadjutor archbishop, I spoke of a humble listening church. I was not referring to the institution or the bishops alone. I was also referring to parishes and priests. My desire to foster a humble, listening church was not just a reaction, a proposal to be different."